The famous Chulbul Pandey turns 47 years old today. And that makes it a perfect day to decode the secret behind the Dabangg dude’s stardom

Salman Khan was born on December 27, 1965 has starred in more than 80 films in Bollywood. While doing that has created a niche for himself in B-town, and one that clearly defines his personality and stardom. But what exactly do we identify this Dabangg Khan with? What is it that instantly makes him a super hit among his fans? And how does any movie that feature Salman make humongous profit at the box office?

The answers to all this and more lie beneath. The various aspects of Sallu bhai’s personality – attitude, love life, Being Human charity, and much more – make him one of the most desirable stars of B-town. So on his birthday, all of you who are still wondering what makes Salman Khan ‘the Khan’ that he is, peep in and find out!

So there, that’s Salman Khan decoded to the basics just for you, BollywoodLifers. But tell us: What is it about Salman Khan that appeals to YOU the most?

The English Vinglish actor has managed to impress many…and how! Read on to find out why our readers, who took part in a recent poll, think she rules

Sridevi won many hearts in an attempt to learn the Queen’s language in English Vinglish. And her adorably cute pronunciation of jazz as ‘jhazz’ remained with us hours after we left the theatres with a smile pasted on our happy faces. But while the credit for all these moments actually goes to the screenplay and direction (kudos to Gauri Shinde and her team!) of the movie, the actor’s contribution to it all is also very significant. More so because Sridevi’s return built a kind of a hype around the movie, and her fans flocked to the big screens to witness her coveted comeback.

“Sridevi is undoubtedly the HERO of this movie,” said Rajan Naidu, a reader.

“I’m in Dubai and I have never seen people go to watch any star’s movie the way I see they are going for Sridevi. I can see all kind of people in cinema. Indians, Arabs, Europeans, Americans etc, She has a wide range appeal. That is what a star is,” said another BollywoodLifer, Khaled Khalifa from Dubai.

And so it was no surprise that Sridevi ruled this poll with – hold your breath – 74.91 percent votes! And wethinks that’s an achievement, ‘coz the actor was competing with contemporary heroines like Vidya Balan, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra, Anushka Sharma, Parineeti Chopra and Richa Chaddha – who, by the way, have received only single digit percentages as votes (gasp!) – this time around.

All we can say after seeing the outcome of this poll is – Sridevi, you rock! And after receiving such a warm welcome back, we’re eager to know what’s next on the to-do list of the most powerful lady in B-town. Any clue, BollywoodLifers?

So what if B-town hasn’t started talking about a superwoman yet. That in no way means our heroines do not possess the power (or the license) to kill! And on the occasion of Vijay Dashmi, a day when Goddess Durga killed the demon, we take a look at the femme fatales who’ve used that power well…on the big screen that is

There’s no denying that Bollywood has churned out movie after movie singing praises of heroes who possessed special power, undisputed courage and strength and undying love. But in this male-dominated industry where do the ladies stand? Right beside these larger-than-life males!

Vijay Dashmi is the day when we cherish and pay tribute to ‘power’ that’s personified as Goddess Durga, who destroys the evil and emerges victorious. So here we carefully pick and choose the women – Vidya Balan, Anushka Sharma, Deepika Padukone, Sridevi, Priyanka Chopra, Richa Chaddha, Parineeti Chopra - and their respective characters from the recent movies that set a perfect example of female strength and courage.

B-town celebs have unique ways of expressing their feelings. And here’s how the Khan-buddies celebrate their friendship

B-town rejoiced when best friends Shahrukh Khan and Farah Khan kissed and made up after a long cold war, and of course the famous fight between SRK and FK’s hubby Shirish Kunder. And now the buzz is that their friendship is all set to hop on to the next level. But do you know what that is? We just heard that apart from sharing a friendly relationship and some movies, now the duo will also share their office space!

Kewl, isn’t it? Totally! But this move is certainly not an impulsive one. And we say this ‘coz a sneaky birdie informed us that ever since SRK started working on this building, a space has been allotted to his dear friend Farah. What’s more, we now hear that a floor has indeed been allocated for their upcoming movie – Happy New Year!

But all this makes us wonder about Shirish Kunder’s place in this ‘friendly’ office space. Surely the film editor will also have a corner reserved for himself, right? Or does Shahrukh prefer his buddy’s hubby to maintain a certain distance? We wonder.

When Shahrukh’s IPL team the Kolkata Knight Riders won the match against the Delhi Daredevils on May 22, 2012 by 18 runs, he just couldn’t contain himself. And do you know what he did? He began with hugging all the players of KKR and followed it with…hold your breaths…a joyous cartwheel! Ahem, ahem. That did make us wonder about the plight of his ailing back. But it was after five long and laborious years that Shahrukh’s team had finally made it to the finals. So, ek cartwheel toh banta hai. Right, Mr Khan?

When we look at the images of King Khan celebrating his team’s victory we can’t help but smile. Finally all the effort he has put in seem to be paying off. And remember what we said about a big Bollywood bash in the waiting? After seeing these images, wethinks that if (a big IF, that is) KKR wins the final, then the Baadshah will surely throw a party that will be the talk of B-town for a considerable time. Don’t you think so too, Bollywoodlifers?

Newcomer Zoa Morani, who makes her debut with Always Kabhi Kabhi, has double trouble to deal with – on the one hand the rising pressure to pass the acid test of the cinema-goers and, on the other, father Karim Morani’s crisis

She remains tight-lipped about her personal life, but the nervousness and excitement that’s churning inside her as her movie gets set to release doesn’t go unnoticed as she talks about things happening with her, always and kabhi kabhi…

AKK moments

The film has a dance number called Antenna Reloaded with SRK, who also happens to be the producer of the movie. “Shooting with SRK was crazy. It was a huge surprise for all of us. The funny thing was that every time we had to do a step together, I would go blank, as I was extremely nervous. I was really embarrassed – everyone was making fun of me later!,” The song has not really managed to impress music lovers, so we wonder what made King Khan agree to be a part of it. What’s Zoa’s view? “Well that’s not exactly my favorite. I like the title song of the movie better,” she says firmly. Zoa’s character in AKK is that of a rebellious brat who lives life on the edge and is invariably breaking the rules. Is that anything like her in real life? “I was a very rebellious kid in school and my parents were very strict, but I am much calmer now,” she says. Her view on sweet-saccharine high-school movies? “I am a fan of Step-Up and Gossip Girls. I think it’s great that we have started making more youth-oriented films. At least that gives an opportunity to new faces like us. But AKK is not exactly a hard-core youth film; it also focuses on serious issues like the gap between children and parents.” So what was it like to wear short skirts, have a crush, go back to school once again? “There was this particular day when I hadn’t learnt my lines and Roshan (Abbas) punished us and threw us out on the road. I remember getting punished in school pretty often, so that incident refreshed my memories of that time,” she laughs.

Back up plans

“I plan to open a bakery with my father ‘cos we both love bread. Also, me and Giselle have decided that if our acting career doesn’t work out, we’ll open a chocolate shop named Fruit and Nut, as she’s the fruit and I am the nut,” she giggles.

The Kareena story

“My trainer and her trainer coincidentally turned out to be the same person, but I wonder why people created such brouhaha about it. It’s not that I look up to her or anything,” Zoa insists.